Introducing Mock-Haiku!

There's a page on the JeffWerx website for Mock-Haiku. This is one of my favorite fun diversions that's got just enough rules to give your creativity a template, but not so many that you're going to feel mentally taxed. Sometimes distracting, wacky thoughts just pile up and we need to clean out the cobwebs, and this silly poetic exercise is a great way to do it.

Traditional Haiku is a highly disciplined style of Japanese poetry. Each poem consists of three lines. The first line is composed of 5 syllables, the middle line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5 syllables. The poem is set in Nature and must include one Seasonal word. It is about a single moment in time, and cannot include any abstract concepts. This is what a true Haiku is.

Mock Haiku look like traditional Haiku in that they follow the three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables format. Each line should be self-contained and not a single sentence broken into 3 lines. Other than that, anything goes! I've just put a suitable name to what most people actually do when they think they're writing true Haiku. Be as abstract and as unstuck in time as you want. See where it takes you!

Just as there's a place in Life for disciplined finely crafted high art, it's also vitaly important to have the balance of the Silly. All things in moderation, baby!

As an example, here's my first Mock-Haiku from many years ago, and a few others:

Check out the Mock-Haiku page for more, and then...go write some yourself!